Murtha: Dems could impeach

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) said Sunday that Democrats in Congress could consider impeachment as a way to pressure President Bush on his handling of the war in Iraq.

“What I’m saying, there’s four ways to influence a president. And one of them’s impeachment,” Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, said on CBS’ “ Face the Nation.”

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Murtha has been one of the most outspoken members of Congress on the administration's handling of the war in Iraq; others who have strongly criticized Bush have stopped short of calling for impeachment.

Murtha also expressed doubt that Congress and the Bush administration would be able to work out a compromise soon in negotiations on the $124 billion war spending bill. Congress' emergency funding measure contains a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

“They say we’re willing to compromise, and then we don’t get any compromise,” said Murtha. “We’ve already compromised. And we need to make this president understand, Mr. President, the public has spoken.”

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Murtha said the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass another war funding bill with similar benchmarks for progress in Iraq after President Bush vetoes the legislation, as he has vowed to do.

“If he vetoes this bill, he’s cut off the money. But obviously, we’re going to pass another bill,” Murtha said. “It’s going to have some stringent requirements. ... I'd like to look at this again in two months.”

Rice on the Defensive

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared on several Sunday shows to defend the administration’s opposition to the emergency wartime funding bill with the troop withdrawal timetable.

“The president has said he will not accept anything that constitutes a timetable for American withdrawal,” Rice said on ABC’s “ This Week.”

On “ Face the Nation,” she also said: “To begin now to tie our own hands and to say we must do this if they don’t do that doesn’t allow us the flexibility and creativity that we need to move this forward.”

Rice also said she would resist a subpoena from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) to testify about the administration’s prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Waxman is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Meanwhile, on ABC, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) sharply attacked Rice and the administration’s position on Iraq.

“When I listen to the secretary of state right now, it’s the same thing again — the same distortions, the same myth of supporting something that isn’t working and is weakening our country against our enemies,” Feingold said. “It has to stop, and I will fight to stop it.”

Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), a Republican presidential candidate, responded: “This is assured defeat. Defeat will happen in America, not in Iraq. That’s not what the American people want.”

McCain’s Moment

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) said on “ Fox News Sunday” that his experience, both in war and in Congress, sets him apart from the other leading Republican candidates for president.

“This struggle against radical Islamic fundamentalism requires a steady hand at the tiller. I have the experience; I’ve been in war. I know both war and peace. I know the face of evil. I’m ready to serve,” said McCain, adding that there’s no room for “on-the-job training” for a president.

If elected, he said his three priorities would be to “reform government, fight this Islamic extremist element” and “restore integrity to government.”

McCain reiterated his opposition to torturing detained terrorism suspects and called for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, where many suspected Al Qaeda operatives are being held.

“We cannot torture people and maintain our moral superiority in the world. That’s a fact,” he said.

McCain said he would not raise taxes and vowed to cut federal spending, but declined to take a no-new-taxes pledge on the show.

“If we adopted my proposals for tax cuts, which were huge, we would be talking about further tax cuts today, not out-of-control and rampant spending in Washington,” McCain said.

There were several testy exchanges between McCain and host Chris Wallace. When Wallace suggested that some conservatives thought he was a Republican in name only, McCain responded: “First of all, I don’t know who you’re talking to. … I’m sure they’re people who live inside the Beltway.”

When Wallace suggested that McCain had flip-flopped over raising the income cap on Social Security taxes, McCain accused him of taking his position out of context.

When Wallace noted that former CIA director George Tenet condoned torture as a way of getting information, McCain said: “I don’t care what George Tenet says. I know what’s right. I know what’s morally right as far as America’s behavior is concerned.”

Biden His Time

On NBC’s “ Meet the Press,” Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a Democratic presidential candidate, responded to recent comments by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a GOP White House contender, that the country would be at greater risk for terrorism if a Democrat were elected president.

“I say to Rudy, you’re directing your ire at the wrong guy, the guy you’re continuing to cling to. The administration has been almost criminally negligent on what it has done to protect the homeland,” Biden said.

Biden also responded to his much-criticized comments earlier this year that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was “clean and articulate.”

“The good thing about being around a long time is people have a basis upon which to judge you,” Biden said. “I didn’t find any serious person in the civil rights community because of my long history and strong support for civil rights thinking that I was trying to insult Barack Obama in any way.”